Do you ever visit somewhere, search for more details online after your visit and then find out that your views are all wrong?

It happened to me with the Kelpies, a striking pair of sculptures towering over the canal and motorway in Falkirk.

The Kelpies were designed by renowned Scottish sculptor, Andy Scott, inspired by the Clydesdale horses that use to pull boats along the nearby canals (which you can also visit as part of a trip to the Falkirk Wheel boat lift).

After seeing photos online and with the weather pretty wet on the West Coast, we decided on a day trip to Falkirk to see the Kelpies and the Falkirk Wheel.

There’s no visitor centre yet, as the Kelpies were only unveiled last year, but the slightly bleak and blustery conditions made the silvery sea creatures (Kelpies are also mythic figures in Scots folklore) all the more atmospheric.

I loved them and was inspired to look up more details of Scott’s work when I got home, planning to see more when I got the chance. Until I came across this article in the Guardian from their art critic, slamming the sculptures as ‘banal and obvious’ and, even worse, as ‘a big pile of horse poo’. Was I missing something? I’m no art critic but I thought they were playful, fun and a bit different.

So I’ll let my photos do the talking. Have you visited the Kelpies? What did you think?